Devil Child
by nichiibotsu
Summary: AU. It's 2053. Alfred lives in a village controlled by genetic engineering, but he's the only one it didn't work for. What happens when he meets natural-born Arthur who lives in the shadows and falls deeply and unexpectedly in love? USUK. Human names used
1. Chapter 1

The year is 2053.

Away from the power-hungry cities ruled by a mass of new technological advances there was a town. A town that was yet to be engulfed by the growing metal paradise known as the cities of the world. A town that's technology was at least thirty years behind all the other areas consuming the great floating hunk of iron. A town that was believed to be of English origin, but the was buried along with the name of all the countries years ago. A town that was driven by one thing; human perfection. Perfect in body, perfect in mind. The town of Thwartover.

_To be conceived naturally is to be born of the devil._

Due to the large demand for genetically engineered children it was legalized in the eastern world in the fairly early twenty-first century. During the technological revolution of 2032 Thwartover ignored the pulses of the advanced contraptions that over-threw the cities, and let themselves grow unaccustomed to the new age. Instead of investing in the mechanical aspects of the new and supposedly improved Earth, biological enhancements were made in their place. Using micro-technology and intensification of the hormones of the human body scientists were able to not only edit the physical aspects of offspring but could engineer a perfect personality as well. They could change every trait and pick out their future child's preferences to the dot. For this new decade this was the norm in Thwartover it was more than the norm, it had started a segregation. It was commonly known that within this time space there was no more than four children born without being engineered. It was also commonly thought throughout the town that all or the majority of these children died at a young age of incurable childhood diseases. If still alive they were thought to be in hiding or living in between to 'normal' families, avoiding as much public appearance and human contact as possible. Hospitals. One visit to a hospital and the 'normal' charade for the not engineered was over. Five minutes in the long corridors or the disinfected rooms you'd be found out and after that nothing would be the same.

She sat hunched over herself her blonde hair flopping precariously over her gently ageing face. Odd strands of hair stuck to her cheeks due to the tears steaming done her cheeks. Any on-looker would think that she was merely a concerned mother, but to be true these tears were nothing but selfish. She sat collapsed on her knees on cream ceramic tiles, her polished work shoes abandoned aimlessly beside her. Now hidden from her sight due to her hiding her tear-stained eyes behind her hands was a large projection projected from the back wall into the middle of the room, displaying what seemed to be the cause of the woman's distress. The majority of the image was white light except a small paragraph of typed writing.

**Fifteen Years Engineering Success Report **

**Name: Alfred F. Jones**

**Date of Birth: Sunday 4th July 2038**

**Genetic Engineering: Failed**

**Idiosyncrasy Engineering: Failed**

The Thwartover abnormality. The one that didn't work. Smug, lazy, arrogant; all traits never wanted in a child all appearing at once in a child that was engineered nonetheless. Every engineered child would receive a report at the age of fifteen-years after the thorough examination they would have had but half a year earlier. The worries began when Alfred was nothing more than four-years-old. His personality began to shine through, a bold, daring and rude child, but the authorities swore that it was simply a phase and he would begin acting normally soon enough. His parents' worries only increased through his ageing, his behaviour worsened and at the age of eight it was confirmed that the young Jones boy needed glasses. This is what confirmed it for everyone. The boy was a mystery, but a hero in spite of it. It confused but mystified the whole population of Thwartover, how could he have lived, how does he not have some crazy disease or birth marks, how was he perfectly normal looking? But instead of being look down upon like his father had feared, the reaction was the exact opposite, he was treated like a celebrity, sympathized upon by all. The report they'd received confirmed it all, he was in fact everything he seemed to be, a failure.

* * *

><p>"How did you get <em>those<em>?" said the blonde teenager, his expression wavering, looking like he was trying to decide whether he was disgusted or impressed.

"My mum works out of town, Jonesy. She has her ways." the taller boy said, smirking. Alfred stared down at the packet of cigarettes the other held in hand before stepping back and outstretching an arm, leaning against the wall.

"Hand us one over," he said peering over his thickly-framed glasses.

"No way, Al. I'm not being responsible for 'the _special_ child' coughing up a lung."

"Come on Gilbert, please. My mum is gonna be a wreck today, my report coming through or whatever, that means that I can get away with anything 'cause she'll be too disgusted or something to even look at me." he said using dramatic hand gestures.

"Fine," the albino said handing over a cigarette, "but if you start hacking up tar or shit, don't blame me." Alfred let the older boy light him up before inhaling the smoke after lifting it cautiously to his lips. The harsh smoke stung his throat causing him to cough violently. Gilbert raised an eyebrow, smoking one himself with ease.

"Y'know it's nice to hang out with someone who isn't a complete pussy." said Alfred thinking about all the 'perfect' kids in his class, who would be currently having a geography lesson while him and Gil had a smoke 'round back.

"You can't really talk, but I guess you're better than that lot. Mum said she made me this way, 'cause you always need a rebel, no matter how amazing everyone else is. She pretty much left me alone. She told me growing she prefer me _not _to be a faggot, but if I need a screw and the only one that isn't a strict virginal freak is a guy, she won't mind. To be honest if you were a bird, I'd fuck you into this wall, right here, right now, but because you're a dude, I have a little more control." he stared down at Al with his red eyes, smirking as he got used to the sensation of smoking.

"Thanks." Alfred said with a large dose of hesitation. "Remind me to hide the next time you're horny." he added laughing. Silence followed except for the sound of the boys exhaling after drags. They dropped the stubs into the puddle by their watching the small burst of smoke rise slowly before artfully entering the main building without being seen just in time for the last bell to ring.

"Bye Gil, wish me luck?" Alfred waved, heading to his locker, laughing as Gilbert smirked at him.

* * *

><p>Alfred opened the front door, the smell of smoke slightly masked by some kind of girly deodorant he nicked from some girl's Phys Ed kit that was on top of some lockers, he knew no one in his family would be coming close enough to him to smell him today, but better safe than sorry. He didn't bother calling for his mom, he knew that she'd be wallowing in her sorrows in the middle of a room somewhere. His suspicions were proved when he saw her collapsed in the middle of their living room, his dad would take the news better than his mum but obviously he 'couldn't be there due to important meetings' or similar crap. He grabbed a doughnut from the side in the kitchen and went upstairs to read comic books, at least superman wouldn't judge him.<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

"Quiet down you lot, we're on a field trip to see ancient markings, _not_ to have a rabble meeting. Here is where it was to be thought that Dr. Thw- Alfred Jones, will you _please_ stop kicking dirt at people's backs and concentrate on something that could _actually_ get you somewhere in life?" the teacher looked at him, raising an eyebrow, her heels slowly sinking into the mud, making her shorter and shorter.

Alfred scoffed at her looking over at Gilbert, who was snickering behind his hand. The teacher tucked her auburn hair behind her ear and turned around slowly trying to pull her inappropriate footwear out of the ground. Gil edged closer to the blonde, nudging him in the ribs.

"Hey, Al. There's no way I'm staying here, wanna skive?" Alfred nodded, grabbing at Gilbert's wrist as they moved so they were hidden by the trees.

"Mr Beilschmidt, would you please be kind enough as to follow us to our destination instead of the immature tomfoolery that you are undoubtedly about to commit. I'm pretty sure it'd be harder to stay in the job if the council knew I was responsible for the boy who started a forest fire. So thank you Gilbert, please rejoin the group," their teacher crossed her arms and turned, trudging away, not letting the albino get in a word edgeways but still watching him out the corner of her eye.

Artfully within the trees Alfred prayed Gilbert wouldn't say anything and slowly backed up into the darkness being careful not to trip over roots as he went. The forest was fairly light, light shining brightly through the gaps in the sparse leaves. Despite the amount of light there were still parts of the forest that were heavily shadowed and when the wind would whistle or the fallen autumnal leaves would crumple Alfred couldn't help but jump. Alfred secretly wished superman was there with him, to save him, but obviously superman was a fictional superhero from old comic books and Alfred didn't need a hero, he was enough of a hero himself.

He kicked at the ground as he wandered around aimlessly, dislodging pieces of dried mud as he went, the dirt sometimes landing on his toe. The forest seemed never ending, a constant mass of nothing but trees and the odd bit of moss, Alfred was getting incredibly bored that after a while he ended up ignoring the potentially hazardous forest floor and started playing pacman on his phone. He was successful longer than he should have been, after about ten minutes he ended up tripping over his own feet, and ending up with his face in the mud. Rising with a groan, he scratched at his head, letting the mud in-bedded in his head flake off and fall to the ground. He took off his glasses and inspected a piece of grass that was trapped in the hinge closely, his eyesight wasn't the best in world, which probably contributed to the fact it took him a rather long time to notice the person standing right in front of him.

"Glasses." he saw the blurry lips of the boy moving and before he could fully push his glasses back on up his nose all he saw was the boy marching ahead of him his arm behind him in order yank him along by the wrist.

"Excuse me? Mr? Where you takin' me?" Alfred spoke out, his slight accent slowly becoming more prominent.

The shortish blonde bloke dragging Alfred along simply scoffed through his teeth and lead him through a large opening in the trees. In front of them was what seemed to be some sort of makeshift house, much like a log cabin, surrounding it was a short home-made fence and a small array of potted plants and cacti. The sun seeped onto the roof of the house as the area was free of trees. The boy walked straight up to the house nudged the door with hip, before somehow building up the strength to push a much bigger Alfred directly into the house, where he stumbled backwards and landed on the hard wooden, closely missing a wonky stool that was seemingly abandoned in the narrow corridor which lead into the surprisingly average sized bungalow.

"Glasses, you have glasses." Finally Alfred got to see his face clearly for the first time since "meeting" him, he was small with a long face, dark green eyes, shaggy blonde hair and massive, just _massive_ eyebrows.

"Well observed, inspector," Alfred stated his voice laced with sarcasm. The other dismissed it with a sigh, moving to inspect Alfred's face thoroughly.

"Dude, any reason why you're staring at my face?"

There was no reply, just green eyes flickering over his face, as if they were inspecting every freckle or blemish, the almost invisible hairs on his face. Eventually his mouth formed a small "O" shape and he signalled at Alfred to stay put before wandering out of the room. He was back in mere seconds, carrying a large wedge of paper. He sat back on the floor opposite Alfred and flicked through the pages, eyes scanning over every word, when he finally looked up he smiled.

"Oh my, wow, just wow, I can't believe it I've found you, this is brilliant!" the boy said, his expression getting more ecstatic with every word he said.

"Wha-" Alfred was interrupted by the other offering him his hand.

"I'm Arthur Kirkland, pleasure to meet you." Alfred accepted his hand, shaking it gingerly.

"I have no idea what you're going on about..." it went straight over Arthur's head, as if he never heard it.

"And you are?" Alfred was asked.

"Alfred... My name is Alfred F. Jones, and what the fuck are you doing?" he questioned him as Arthur smiled smugly at him.

"This is brilliant, I've always wanted to meet someone like you, you my friend have made my day, no my year," he smiled.

"That's it, I have no idea what you're smoking, but you're a complete nut job, I'm not your friend, I don't know you, dude. This is the opposite of awesome, I'm going." Alfred got up and head for the door, Arthur grabbed his arms stopping him.

"But, I've found you..." he said through his teeth, trying not to loose his temper.

"Get off me, you're weird, and by the looks of things so were your parents, who would ever choose to torment their kid with fucking caterpillars for eyebrows."

With that Arthur's hold loosened.

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry for the late update, I'm glad people like this so far.<p>

Reviews are loved :)


	3. Chapter 3

Walking wouldn't have gotten him away quick enough. Running would probably cause him to end up with his face in the mud, again. So he settled somewhere in the middle with a somewhat awkward jog, stopping every now and again to step over a log or an overgrown root. Alfred then made the mistake of glancing back over his shoulder. As soon as he did his eyes connected with the green orbs staring ghostly at him from the crooked doorway of the small house. The blank expression on Arthur's face made him feel overly jumpy, so he found comfort in staring at his shoes. He could not bring himself to turn back around and walk away. The almost unnoticeable feeling of his glasses slipping down his nose brought a sudden air of realisation down on him. His eyebrows knitted themselves together as everything fell into place. He cursed under his breath, he was a terrible person. He looked up hoping to see Arthur still standing there with the same blank expression, but all his eyes met was the splintering wooden door. Seeing the closed door he ran back towards the house, not caring hat he was constantly tripping over. Jumping over plant pots, he reached the front door, which he started hammering with his fists, he knew he was going to regret it when he had chunks of wood embedded in his hands but he ceased to care.

"Arthur! Arthur, open up! Arthur?" He screamed through the door, hoping he'd hear him. "Artie?" Arthur opened the door with a face of thunder.

"Never call me that ever again." He scowled and went to slam the door.

Before the slab of wood could make contact with the door frame Alfred put his foot between them, again knowing that he would thoroughly regret it later, but yet again, ceasing to care. When the door bounced off the rubber of his shoe slightly, he was relieved. Arthur had not been harsh enough to slam his foot into a door but he was harsh enough to attempt to push him out said door a few seconds later.

"Wait! Arthur!"

"Get out my house, you bloody git!" he looked rather disgusted at Arthur's presence. He kept on trying to push him away, Alfred wasn't having any of it.

Alfred pushed Arthur up against the wall, hands either side of his head to stop him from escaping. His breathing was erratic and their noses were less than an inch apart. Green eyes stared up at him, glimmers of confusion and fear flashing through them. Alfred stepped back slowly, his head hung slow, mumbling apologies. Arthur coughed awkwardly, the tips of his ears turned a glowing red.

"What do you want?" the shorter male said sourly.

Alfred placed his hands on his shoulders in a semi-comforting manner.

"Look, I'm sorry Art," Arthur winced at the nickname, but didn't correct him because he was interested about what he was about to say. "I didn't now you were..."

Arthur was expecting a harsh insulting slang term for his 'kind' but it never came, nothing did, he looked at Alfred questioningly, he didn't seem to know what to say.

"That I'm a freak, the devil's spawn?" he had an eyebrow raised and his arms crossed. Alfred shook his head instantly, a look of a small confused toddler on his face.

"What then?" asked Arthur

"I think you're special, unique, everyone around here is the same boring, perfect, it's really annoying. I think it's cool that you're going against the 'man'."

"The man?"

"You know, the council and shit."

Arthur snorted.

"And you're not going against the 'man'"

"Nope."

"What? You're a natural aren't you?" Arthur's shock was becoming more and more visible.

"Well, sort of, not really, kinda..."

"Are you or aren't you?"

"Yes and no."

"You annoy me."

Alfred snickered.

"Look, there's no forward answer I can give you okay?" Alfred was smiling a bit _too_ much.

"What so you're a natural born but you're genetically perfect? I think not."

"So close there Artie," Alfred laughed at Arthur's annoyed expression, "I'm a failure of a genetically perfect kid."

Arthur scowled.

"What?"

"You heard me."

"I'm sorry..."

"Don't be. It's official now, I got my report a couple days ago."

"You're fifteen?"

Alfred nodded.

"No wonder you're an idiot."

"Wha-?"

Alfred was cut off by Arthur's shrewd laughter.

"You can't be much older than me."

"I'm seventeen."

"That's two years apart! Look who's being prejudice now?"

"Ohhh, I'm sorry, maybe age has nothing to do with it, maybe you're just a natural idiot."

"Hey!"

Arthur was cackling, he head rested on the wall behind him.

Alfred gave out an exasperated sigh and moved past him to look into the next room, which he was naturally curious about, his nosiness hadn't been knocked out of his genes like they were supposed to have been before birth. Upon entering the room, he stopped in shock, never in his life had he seen so many books, there were large bookcases on three out of four walls, a massive pile of what seemed to be text books on a low-rise table, along with a china teapot covered in small hand-painted flowers, which had probably gone cold an age ago. Alfred heard the rich laughter fade, followed by small foot steps and the other male appearing by his elbow.

"You act like you've never seen a few books before."

Alfred simply stood there gawking, how could one person own so many books? Alfred reached down and picked up a book titled "English Literature of the 19th Century", Arthur scowled at him as he picked up the teapot.

"Put that down, I don't trust you with Jane Austen." Alfred reluctantly did as he was told, while Arthur poured the cold tea down the sink in the kitchen, which was visible from where Alfred was stuck still. The elder of the to glanced at what seemed to be his watch before cussing quietly to himself along with words Alfred could make out such as "mother" and "study".

He turned to Alfred and smiled awkwardly.

"Look, I'm sorry, but I kind of have to kick you out now," he said looking at his feet, "But you can come back any time you like, within reason..."

And by that he knew he meant "Please come back, I actually really want to see you again." or something along those lines anyway.

And with that Alfred left with a smirk on his face.

* * *

><p>AN: Arrghhh, this chapter is horrible, so much dialogue D;

Now I've come to the point in the story that I desperately need fillers of some sort, because I know exactly where I'm going but I have no idea how to get there... (Ideas welcome?)

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourited or alerted, I know who you are and I love you all.


	4. Chapter 4

To Arthur's satisfaction over the next two weeks Alfred returned to his house in the woods at least ten times, causing the younger to be overly joyous at all times, even during English Literature lessons. His change in demeanour had not gone unnoticed even by his drab classmates, not that they noticed his happiness but that he was suddenly less obnoxious than useful. Even Gilbert who was usually so drowned in his own ego that he never noticed anything noticed, leading him to camp out in front of Alfred's house in the shade of his garden wall at eight in the morning. Despite the fact he hadn't properly talked to his mother since the day his report was received it was obvious she had noticed the change as well, along with him being home late after pretty much every day of school he hadn't missed a single homework within the last fortnight and his grades were slowly creeping up. She was glad that whatever thing was causing this was in Alfred's life, but being the judgemental person she was suspected that it was the worst thing possible causing his happiness. Alfred often found his things out of place in his school bag as if someone had been rifling through it, although he just passed it off as his own untidiness. Alfred had started to come and go as he pleased, I was much easier to go out where he wanted that way but if he was honest he somewhat missed his over-protective mum digging into every last detail.

The blonde male strode out of his house nonchalantly, his school bag half open and slung lazily over his left shoulder, he somehow, in a strange way, looked the vision of happiness. His demeanour only jaded when a lanky albino jumped out in front of him. Gilbert leaned casually against the garden wall and looked down at Alfred expectingly.

"So, who'd you shag?" he said with a sly grin.

"W-What?"

"Al, you've been radiating happiness for the past two weeks, frankly I would not be surprised if you'd started shitting out rainbows. Seriously dude, what the hell have you been doing?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Alfred replied.

Gilbert raised an eyebrow, it was blatantly obvious that he wasn't this way because their trigonometry teacher hadn't given them homework last week, nor that it was because his favourite webcomic had updated over the weekend. It was so obvious it was untrue.

"Look, mate, I'm happy for you, but seriously, if there's a girl in this neighbourhood that is willing to put out, why have you not been telling me?" Gilbert asked, smirk covering his face.

Alfred opened his mouth to deny anything and everything, but Gilbert started talking again.

"Whatever word vomit is about to come out your mouth, I don't care. Just keep me posted about your fuck buddy, okay?"

And with that Gilbert was rushing off down the street and only when he turned the corner Alfred noticed that the mars bar in his pocket was missing.

* * *

><p>The bell signifying the end of the period nudged Alfred out of his daydream. All day he'd been floating from lesson to lesson. It was nice, having someone that liked you, didn't judge you, knew what it was like to be imperfect. He was so far into his little world that he hardly noticed when Gilbert stepped out in front of him breathing second-hand smoke directly into his face during his walk to his next lesson. Gilbert looked down at him, cigarette hanging lackadaisically on his bottom lip.<p>

"Come on, Al. I don't care if you've decided you're going to be a good boy now, at least have a fag with me."

Alfred rolled his eyes and took the cigarette from his mouth, took a drag and simply dropped it on floor. With a smile and wave he then left for his next class.

* * *

><p>She hopped around the room awkwardly, shrugging on her work blazer and slipping on her patent shoe. She fumbled into the living room of the small house, collecting paperwork off a side table next to where her son was sat.<p>

"Have a good day sweetie, work hard on that coursework," She smiled at him, placing a kiss on his forehead.

"Bye, Mum," Arthur beamed at her.

His mother cocked an eyebrow, his out of character attitude momentarily putting her off. Her eyes then landed on a tattered piece of paper strewn next to her son's feet. Upon it was scrawled "Alfred is the best" alongside with a badly-drawn picture of a robot. She gave her son a knowing smile before heading silently out of the door.

* * *

><p>Alfred gave a sigh of relief as the bell for the end of school went, he was finally free. The weekend was beckoning. He ran all the way home, not bothering to even prove his presence to his mother before heading to the garage to retrieve his bicycle. It was far too tedious to walk to Arthur's house, and it's not like he could get his mum to take him. Besides, constantly riding his bike made his legs super toned. He ducked under the buckets and hammers hanging from hooks on the scaffolding of the garage before grabbing the handlebars of his bike and walking backwards with it awkwardly. Everything was going fine and dandy before he dumped into someone who was standing directly in his path. He turned around. <em>Mother.<em>

"Alfred. I know I haven't talked to you in a conversational manner for a while now, I've been upset, it is completely understandable, I know it's not your fault but I can't help myself."

Alfred raised an eyebrow in question.

"Right. I'll get to it. What have you been taking? Drugs? Have you been drinking? Are you doing something illegal? Because if you are-"

"No, Mum. I haven't."

"Why are you so _different_ then, it's not understandable."

"Look, maybe I've just decided to be more like the son you wanted. A radiant ball of sunshine," he sneered at her and pushed her out of the way, wheeling his bicycle down the drive before cycling off.

She knew she should have been infuriated, but she couldn't help but smile. Her son was _finally_ becoming someone she would be proud to say she genetically engineered.

* * *

><p>A loud knock at the door knocked Arthur out of the stupor his reading comprehension on Charles Dicken's "Great Expectations" had left him in. The second he opened the door he had a face full of Alfred's shoulder as he had the hell smothered out of him. Stepping back, Alfred flew into animated speech, Arthur only concentrating on the words coming out of his mouth when he said;<p>

"Hey, Art. You, me, tomorrow, I'm going to take you out into the real world."

* * *

><p>AN: Sorry it's so late, I really did mean to update sooner, I had really bad writers block.<p>

Thank you all for the lovely reviews and all the alerts and favourites! Over 1,700 hits in 3,000 words? Impressive. I love you all.

Plus, I don't own Hetalia. I mean, it's pretty obvious considering this is fanfiction, but some people get pissy :L Oh, and don't expect me to disclaim in the author's notes every chapter.

Oh, and I'm English, fag = cigarette, not a gay person :L


	5. Chapter 5

The elder of the two poked his head out from around the his front door, and upon spotting the spectacled boy leaning idly against a tree he beckoned towards him. Then when noticing that he was being completely ignored, opened the door fully and stood with his hands on his hips.

"Come on, you imbecile, my mum left donkey's years ago, time doesn't stand still so you can daydream." Arthur hissed across the clearing at him.

Alfred looked up at him, looking somewhat embarrassed before approaching him, "Heh, sorry..."

In reply Arthur rolled in eyes and headed back into the house, he was more than intimidated by what Alfred called the "real world", what if people realised he was a natural born? Surely his fuck-ugly eyebrows would give it away, is anyone really dim enough to choose their child to look like that? Arthur then disappeared into the under the stairs cupboard and came out with a grey beanie on, pulled down so far it looked like it was hard to see past. He then snatched up a a pair of dark sunglasses and put them on, turning back to Alfred.

"You look ridiculous."

Arthur scowled at him, glancing down at his green knit sweater and shrugging.

"You love it really," the elder stated plainly.

"I'd be lying if I denied it," the other laughed, this kind of banter between the two had been going on for a while now, Alfred knew very well that it was more than friendly and that the elder may start to get the wrong idea but he couldn't bring himself to stop the flirtatious teasing.

Arthur smirked slightly adjusting the hat in the mirror so he didn't look too obscene when Alfred came up behind him and gazed into the reflection.

"You ready for the big wide world yet then, Art?"

Normally he would've scowled at the nickname but was too caught up in the thought of venturing out of the wood, nodding slowly with an unsure look in his eyes, he grabbed for his keys and pulled Alfred out of the cottage and they walked towards the edge of the wood together.

* * *

><p>By the time they'd reached the quaint little coffee shop on the outskirts of town, Arthur had made for Alfred's hand at least four times, but being an awkward git, the younger had wriggled out of his grasp every time muttering some incoherent excuse that probably made no sense. Don't get him wrong he did really like Arthur, more than he probably should, but the thought that he may possibly be gay terrified him beyond belief, so much so that every time he caught his mind wandering too much when thinking of his older friend he turned on his computer and stared at pictures of girls for hours until he'd convinced himself of his heterosexuality again. They sat opposite each other at one of the small circular table in the café, waiting for their orders in an adequately awkward silence.<p>

"You can take your sunglasses off now, we're inside you know."

"I know but people will see my eyebrows," Arthur hissed back, under his voice.

The spectacled boy sighed, "It's more suspicious wearing sunglasses inside than it is having big eyebrows, Arthur..." the younger trailed off reaching for the glasses balancing on the elder's small nose, but only to have his fingers swatted away.

"Al..." then came the warning tone, the younger had heard it before, but this time the tone sounded more worried than annoyed.

Ignoring his friend completely he leant forward again, perching himself on his elbow trying to snatch the sunglasses again, Arthur scowled, lifting his hand to shield the glasses from Alfred's reach.

"Trust me." was uttered from the younger boy's lips in barely a whisper.

Worried hands fell back onto the table in loose fists as the dark glasses were slowly retrieved and placed carefully on the tabletop. Only at that moment when their eyes met without the restriction of dark plastic did they notice how close they actually were, their noses a mere inch apart. Alfred still leaning in on his elbow, Arthur sat straight up on the wooden chair, his feet planted flat on the ground. Breath mingled, hot against their faces, they both knew that they should be leaning back and laughing it off, but neither of them could bring themselves to do it, the simple action of leaning back in their chairs. Eye contact was never broken, and it seemed at that moment that neither of them could dare to blink. The elder shakily began to move forward towards his friend, their noses skimming slightly. Arthur swore he could almost taste him. An untimely and embarrassed cough caused them to fly apart, Alfred, wobbling on his elbow and Arthur pushing back so far in his chair that he could guarantee that he would find indentations from the furniture on his skin later. They simultaneously looked up at the waitress with a grey tray in her petite hands, the tray holding a metal tea pot and two off-white mugs, obviously stained from the coffee they have endured over however many years they'd been in use.

"Tea?" she asked and Arthur meekly raised his hand at her, then letting her place the pot of hot water, the milk and an empty mug in front of him.

"And a cappuccino," she continued and placed the coffee in front of Alfred after he nodded at her.

She then scuttled away, obviously confused and flustered, leaving the two males in a very uncomfortable silence. The silence was broken by the sound of the elder making up his drink, pouring the black tea into his cup, stirring in milk and sugar and cursing to himself when burning his finger on the tea pot. Who's idea was it to make a teapot out of metal anyway? How dim were they? Anyone above the age of ten knew metal was a conductor of heat. Arthur sighed at his thoughts and then let his eyes wander up to meet Alfred's. They both stared at one another for a while in disbelief, taking short but slow sips of their beverages.

"So..." Alfred started, in attempt to break through the thick, awkward atmosphere.

"Uh, yeah, so..." was said in reply and Arthur tried to bring up his hand to scratch his neck but ended up knocking his tea over, causing it to spill everywhere, including on his lap.

Alfred's eyes widened as Arthur winced when the hot liquid came into contact with his slim legs.

"Are you okay?" the younger asked warily.

"Just peachy," he replied somewhat sarcastically as he brushed down his trousers and inspected to big wet patches.

Alfred smiled slightly, taking a napkin and beginning to mop up the drink on the table, fishing out the now tea-covered sunglasses and wiping them down. Handing them to the smaller boy who simply smiled weakly in return.

"I think it's time we went somewhere else," Alfred stated.

"You can say that again."

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><p>AN: Wow, it's been a really long time since I updated, was it last November or something? I'm really sorry guys, I hope you're still with me almost 10 months on! I would bore you with reasons to why I'm so late but in a nutshell it's been a mix of writer's block and exams. I hope to get back into my monthly writing habit, but I don't know haha. I'll probably write the next chapter within the next week, but bare with me. It gets exciting soon! On a side note this fic will probably be about 10 chapters so we're about half way through. Reviews are always appreciated :)<p> 


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